Dam Safety On-site Inspection and Test

It is the key to carry out effective dam health operation inspection to identify the daily operation safety problems of the dam, and then carry out targeted safety maintenance (Adamo et al. in J Earth Sci Geotech Eng 109–143, 2020 [1]). There are three general types of dams health and operational condition inspections: regular technical inspection, regular maintenance inspection and daily inspection. The technical inspection is carried out by entrusting experts to carry out dam safety assessment, that is, dam safety appraisal; maintenance inspection is more frequent than technical inspection by assessing the operational capacity and structural stability of each component of the dam, so as to identify the adverse factors of dam development in the early stage; daily inspection is carried out by the daily dam management personnel (including dam construction personnel, hydropower plant operators, maintenance personnel and reservoir responsible persons) within their areas of responsibility. Some hydraulic structures are with hidden safety defects. The safe and normal operation of these structures can be ensured if the defects were found timely during the daily inspection and correct maintenance, repair, reinforcement and de-risking measures were taken thereafter.